Mon, 20 Mar 2000

Book: Isobel Kuhn / Lois Hoadley Dick

Filed under:  — cyberhobo at 11:34 am

cover

A biography of my grandmother, a missionary in China who escaped with her 6-year old son (my father) in 1950.

Fri, 10 Mar 2000

Book: The Poisonwood Bible / Barbara Kingsolver

Filed under:  — cyberhobo at 11:28 am

cover

An intense, personal story in the African Congo that puts in vivid relief the ways the things we hold holy can throw us into conflict with our world.

Mon, 06 Mar 2000

Day 255 - The Finish Line

Filed under:  — cyberhobo at 03:36 pm View on the hobomap

Finish Line

I have a good breakfast and a liesurely morning ride through Eureka to my starting point, Arcata. Time seems to slow down as the finish line approaches. I ride into town at noon, when they sound their warning siren. It rises and falls slowly as I ride by. When I reach the town square it has stopped, and I see a small throng of people waiting for me.

With Mom

There are ballons, flowers, and ribbon finish line for me to crash through - all the doings of Mom and Dad. I drop the bike and receive a round of hugs, gifts, and then interviews from the Arcata Eye and a couple of local TV stations. Marty, the guy I rode with way back in Oregon who makes his own trailers, congradulates me. The whole time I feel like I’m watching this happen, unable yet to acknowledge it.

Arcata Hotel

We eat a sushi lunch in the Arcata Hotel where I assembled my recumbent in the wee hours of the morning over eight months ago. As I ponder it I realize my adventure isn’t really over. The journey back to Wyoming with Dad is in front of me, a rendevous with Ann is in the works, a trip to Ireland and Europe with Nathan, and I suppose I’ll be starting a career at some point. The sadness I feel about ending my ride clings to me, but I know it will pass.

Sun, 05 Mar 2000

Day 254

Filed under:  — cyberhobo at 05:49 pm View on the hobomap
Piercy, CA to Fortuna, CA

Scooter Touring

My new tire holds up well this morning. When I reach Humbolt Redwoods State Park I exit 101 for the much more peaceful Avenue of the Giants highway.

Giant Sentries

I ride slowly between the toes of the of the giant redwoods for most of the day, swathed in their mighty shadows. At one point a guy on a scooter with a big bag hanging off it passes me. He’s pushing himself from Arcata to San Francisco on that thing. He doesn’t talk long - his work is cut out for him to make the next campground by dark.

Maryann

Once out of the redwoods I ride quickly to Fortuna, then follow directions to my Mom’s friend Maryann’s house where I am greeted by my parents.

Sat, 04 Mar 2000

Day 253

Filed under:  — cyberhobo at 04:26 pm View on the hobomap
Rockport, CA to Piercy, CA

In the morning I bid farewell to the ocean and start cranking up Legett Hill. Mossy oaks provide good shade for the work. I get so absorbed in the cranking that I don’t investigate the periodic noise that has developed in the back wheel. Half a mile short of the top of the hill I hear a sound like a cannon going off and leap off the bike. When I return I see I’ve blown the back tire, thorn-proof tube and the tire itself, way beyond repair. The brake must have been digging into it all the way up.

Legatt Hill

There aren’t many cars on Highway 1 up here, and the few there are won’t stop to help me. I’m forced to walk six miles down what would certainly be one of the most thrilling hills of California. I show up in Leggett feeling dejected. There’s a hardware store here, but it carries no 26-inch tires for me.

Dejected again, I roll the bike out to highway 101 and stick out my thumb. Again no one stops, until at last a hippie girl in a big explorer pulls over. We take the seat off the recument, wrestle it in the back, and head north for Piercy. It reminds me of the time a hippie girl in a beetle rescued Pete and I outside Anza and took us back to the Pacific Crest Trail.

She drops me off in Piercy, where I find a room for the night and a tire for the bike that will hopefully take me through the last stretch.

Fri, 03 Mar 2000

Day 252

Filed under:  — cyberhobo at 04:18 pm View on the hobomap
Stewart’s Point?, CA to Rockport?, CA

My last day of riding on the coast. I explore Fort Bragg a bit - it has a strange sort of old west look to it. Lots of wooden storefronts. Maybe it’s to go with the logging trucks that roll through on highway 1. I find break fast and coffee before moving on.

North Coast

The wind picks up in the afternoon, and I decide to make camp at an empty campground along the highway before the road turns inland and up 2000-ft Leggett Hill.

Thu, 02 Mar 2000

Day 251

Filed under:  — cyberhobo at 08:54 pm View on the hobomap
Forestville, CA to Stewart’s Point?, CA

Fort Ross

I start the day with a nice ride along the Russian River out to Bodega Bay. When I was 12 my mom and Bruce took me on a group trip called the CoastWalk where we walked the coast through Sonoma and Mendicino counties. These distant memories emerge again as I pedal the same miles on highway 1, especially as I pass Fort Ross, where we spent a night on that trip.

Wed, 01 Mar 2000

Days 241-250

Filed under:  — cyberhobo at 08:57 pm View on the hobomap
Forestville, CA

Forestville provides an excellent respite from the road. I eat and help cook marvelous meals with Bruce and his wife Mary. I spend a very full day riding backroads south past Sebastapol, Rohnert Park and Petaluma. I was hoping to make it back to the Golden Gate, but it proves too far for a day ride and I swing out to the coast on the Point Reyes road and back up highway 1. I stop for a meal on Tomales Bay and show up back in Forestville after dark, totally pooped.

Mom

Mom joins us while making her own way north to meet me at the end of my ride. I feel loathe to return to the road again, knowing that when I do it will all soon be over.